On Jan. 1, 1994 an indigenous group in Mexico's poorest state of Chiapas, calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or EZLN, declared war on the Mexican government by demanding cultural and economic autonomy. The declaration was tied to generations of bigotry against the indigenous population and the implementation of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which the Zapatistas opposed, predicting its neoliberal policies would further impoverish Mexico's peasants.

Over the last decade, the Zapatista military's chief spokesperson, subcommandante Marcos, has captured the imagination and respect of many in Latin America for his thoughtful essays and poetry linking the struggle of the dispossessed in Mexico, with those of other indigenous and impoverished peoples across the world.

After years of military skirmishes, the EZLN and the Mexican government worked to resolve their differences through negotiations, resulting in a document known as the San Andres accords. This agreement signed by the Zapatistas and the government, would have conferred a degree of autonomy on indigenous communities in Chiapas. But the government of President Vicente Fox and the federal legislature refused to ratify the accord. Violence against indigenous campesinos and Zapatista activists, at the hands of paramilitary groups linked with the Mexican military has continued, including the 1997 massacre of 45 peasants in the town of Acteal, Chiapas.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Tom Hansen, coordinator of the Mexico Solidarity Network, who talks about the changes both NAFTA and the Zapatistas have wrought in Chiapas in the last ten years, and the struggles that lie ahead.

For more information, call the Mexico Solidarity Network at (773) 583-7728 or visit the group's website at www.mexicosolidarity.org

LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below: